U.S. PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
Patent Technology Monitoring Team (PTMT)

PATENTING TRENDS
CALENDAR YEAR 2014

(document dated 09-FEB-2015)

In calendar year 2014, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted 300,678 utility, 23,657 design,
1,072 plant, and 626 reissue patents, and 6 statutory invention registrations for a total of 326,039 patent
documents for the year. Annual grants of all patent documents increased by 7.6 percent when compared
to the total for calendar year 2013 (302,962 grants in 2013). Calendar year 2014 grants of utility patents
('patents for inventions') numbered 300,678, an increase of 8.2 percent above the total for 2013 (277,835).

There were 17,824 patents granted to U.S. independent inventors in 2014, up from the 2013 count of U.S.
independent inventor patents (17,353). The independent inventor share of all patents issued to U.S.-resident
inventors dropped to 11.2 percent in 2014 from an 11.8 percent share in 2013.

Foreign-resident inventors claimed a 51.3 percent share of all U.S. patents issued in 2014. The share of all
U.S. patents that were issued to Japan-resident inventors in calendar year 2014 was 17.2 percent, down from
17.9 in 2013. The 2014 share of U.S. patents that were issued to South Korean-resident inventors was 5.6 percent,
up from 5.2 percent in 2013. For Germany-resident inventors, the 2014 share was 5.4 percent, down from
5.5 percent in 2013 and the share for Taiwan-resident inventors was 3.8 percent for 2014, down from 4.0 in
2013. Countries with notable increases in patent receipts for 2014 include Kuwait, Thailand, Portugal, Turkey,
Chile, India, Saudi Arabia, Romania, Mexico, and Czech Republic.

The foreign countries whose residents received the most U.S. patents during calendar year 2014 are displayed
in the table below. Following the table is a detail table that lists states and countries and the percentage
change in patenting by their residents from 2013 to 2014.

This table displays the fourteen foreign countries of origin receiving the most U.S.
patents during calendar year 2014. Figures for the United States and for all countries overall
are listed at the end of the table. Counts include utility, design, plant, and reissue patents,
and statutory invention registrations. Patent origin is based on the residence of the first-named inventor.

Rankin 2014

Numberof Patentsin 2014

Share ofAll Patentsin 2014

Country

(Rankin 2013)

(Numberof patentsin 2013)

(2013 to 2014)(Change in Numberof patents)

1

56006

17.2%

Japan

(1)

( 54170 )

( 3.4% )

2

18161

5.6%

Korea, South

(3)

( 15745 )

( 15.3% )

3

17595

5.4%

Germany

(2)

( 16605 )

( 6.0% )

4

12254

3.8%

Taiwan

(4)

( 12118 )

( 1.1% )

5

7921

2.4%

China, People'S Repub

(6)

( 6597 )

( 20.1% )

6

7693

2.4%

Canada

(5)

( 7272 )

( 5.8% )

7

7157

2.2%

United Kingdom

(8)

( 6551 )

( 9.3% )

8

7103

2.2%

France

(7)

( 6555 )

( 8.4% )

9

3617

1.1%

Israel

(9)

( 3152 )

( 14.8% )

10

3044

0.9%

India

(12)

( 2474 )

( 23.0% )

11

3033

0.9%

Italy

(10)

( 2930 )

( 3.5% )

12

2946

0.9%

Sweden

(14)

( 2431 )

( 21.2% )

13

2842

0.9%

Netherlands

(11)

( 2571 )

( 10.5% )

14

2601

0.8%

Switzerland

(13)

( 2466 )

( 5.5% )

&nbsp

158,713

48.7%

United States

&nbsp

(147,666)

(7.5%)

&nbsp

167,326

51.3%

All Foreign

&nbsp

(155,296)

(7.7%)

&nbsp

326,039

100.0%

All Countries

&nbsp

(302,962)

(7.6%)

Annual Percentage Change in Patent Counts
By U.S. State and Country of Origin
Calendar Year 2013 to 2014

This table displays states and countries of origin along with
the annual percentage change in patent counts (including utility,
design, plant, and reissue patents, and statutory invention
registrations) from calendar year 2013 to 2014. U.S., foreign, and overall
totals are displayed at the beginning of the table.
Patent origin is based on the residence of the first-named inventor.